Impending implosion in Penang?

PENANG Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has finally been challenged by his own assemblyman for the first time ever since he parachuted into the chief executive's seat of the state.

Teh Yee Cheu, the Penang-born DAP assemblyman for Tanjung Bungah, has boldly exposed Lim who is also DAP secretary-general, pertaining the latter's claims about Penang's hills.

His action has infuriated Lim and the state DAP was forced to demand an explanation from The over his contradiction with the Johor-born chief minister who also happens to be DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang’s son .

Penang Dap’s decsison to pin Teh has however failed to stop the grassroots politician and his supporters from telling the truth about the rate of developments in and around hillsides on the island.

Teh has since openly declared that he would stand up against attempts to silence him.

The breaking of ranks by the first term assemblyman despite the threat of him being dropped in the coming general elections has certainly rattled Lim.

Apart from incurring Lim's wrath, Teh's boldness against hillside development has also opened the floodgates for others to speak up against the state government and Lim’s stand on hillside development.

Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives like PKR's Abdul Malek Abdul Kassim, have been suspiciously quiet despite mounting grassroots pressure against hillside development and destruction of the green lungs on the island.

The chief minister has himself been at the forefront condemning anything and everything in other states, as  faraway as the Lynas plant on the east coast of the Peninsula but has remained noncommittal in his own backyard.

Instead of offering any solutions, Lim has been continuously blaming the previous state government for all the hillside developments on the island.

"There is nothing we can do...we will have to pay millions in compensation if we stop these projects" - has been his mantra whenever he is queried about the state government’s silence over the environmental destructions.

The high-flying chief minister was however caught with his pants down recently when he tried to shift the blame over the controversial hillside development at Sungai Ara, in Abdul Malek's constituency.

A resident bluntly told him off that the hillside project was approved by the Dap state government a few months ago and not by the previous state government as many were made to believe.

The hard truth would have shamed many but Lim just tried to feign ignorance and blamed it on alleged loopholes which had allowed the approval to slip through his office.

Teh has now become a hero and sole voice for his constituents and others facing similar predicaments over the state government’s blatant development projects.

Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) councillor DrLim Mah Hui has echoed Teh’s sentiments against the state administration.

Mah Hui - who was earlier issued with a gag order preventing him from speaking out against hillside developments, had recently delivered a scathing speech highlighting how Penangites have been `marginalised, ignored and being pushed over` by the current administration.

He also said that allegations of ‘developers taking over Penang’ may just be true due to a ‘corrupted’ approval system.

The chief minister has so far remained silent on the issues that have been raised by Teh and Dr Lim.

Political observers in Penang have noted that the chief minister has been trying to seek sympathy by making public statements that he was not worried about ending up losing the chief minister’s post.

Lim, observers say, seems to be worried about an uprising within the state DAP following open challenges from grassroots local leaders like Teh and Mah Hui.

"He fears others who had been kept in check by his authoritarian style might garner enough courage and speak up against him.

"If that happens, Lim may just end up suffering a similar fate as what happened to him when the Malacca DAP booted him and his wife out of the state committee.

"I heard (Lim) Kit Siang has been trying very hard to pacify the situation but the chief minister might have stepped on far too many toes in his short stint in Penang,” a veteran Dap politician noted, adding that the picture would be clearer for Lim when the general election gets closer.

Hush Hush is our Mole in Penang 

Source: MOLE